Ann Arbor signs $2,500 lease for extra customer parking near the popular Argo Cascades

The city will pay Huron River Holdings $2,500 to use the lot for spill-over parking on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from May 26 through Sept. 3.

Jeff Straw, the city's parks and recreation services deputy manager, told council members in a memo that the Argo Canoe Livery continues to be popular and heavily used, but it faces operational challenges trying to meet parking demand throughout the livery season.

The parking lot at 416 Longshore Drive, just east of the livery, will provide an additional 40 parking spaces. Straw said it's anticipated that increased revenue from kayak and canoe rentals will help offset the cost of leasing the parking lot for the season.

The city paid $1.17 million to reconstruct the bypass channel around Argo Dam in the old Argo millrace. For the first time since 1830 — when the channel was built to power mills — the small section of river is now free-flowing, with an old portage removed, and has been transformed into a series of nine drops and pools for people in tubes, rafts, canoes and kayaks to enjoy.

The clearing out of dead vegetation, planting of new grass and paving of the Border-to-Border Trail section has significantly improved the area's appeal and has attracted more walkers, runners and cyclists, as well as casual lingerers who simply want to enjoy the scenery.